I've been watching the Patreon wave from the sidelines, waiting to have a clearer picture of what I could do with it, and I'm at the point where I'd really like to, but need some opinions from those already familiar with it. Malaak is coming to completion, it should be finished by the end of the year. I have ideas for what I want to do next, comic-wise, but I will need an indeterminate gestation period, so I don't think it would make much sense to use it for comic purposes. I don't think I have a big enough fan base to support said gestation, and the development of a new comic (research, character development, world sketches etc), unless you think being in right from the first glimmers would really appeal. My main body of work, as some of you know, is [url="http://majnouna.com/khatt.html"]contemporary Arabic calligraphy[/url], and I don't see how that would fit in the Patreon culture, or what kind of rewards I could offer, much as I would love to get support specifically for this. There remains something I enjoy making, that still counts as a comic, and that could go somewhere with support, and that is my [url="http://cedarseed.com/recipes.html]recipe comics[/url]. The only thing that I still feel weird about is that my intention would still not be for them to take off and become my main focus, but to be a means to support the calligraphy, if only a little, and that seems to run contrary to what Patreon is for. So I'd really appreciate any thoughts on those options, advice, from a creator's or patron's p.o.v. What would arouse your interest? What would you like to see? Should I not go down that route with a project that's not really my main baby? Cheers...

My main body of work, as some of you know, is contemporary Arabic calligraphy, and I don't see how that would fit in the Patreon culture, or what kind of rewards I could offer, much as I would love to get support specifically for this. There remains something I enjoy making, that still counts as a comic, and that could go somewhere with support, and that is my recipe comics. The only thing that I still feel weird about is that my intention would still not be for them to take off and become my main focus, but to be a means to support the calligraphy, if only a little, and that seems to run contrary to what Patreon is for. So I'd really appreciate any thoughts on those options, advice, from a creator's or patron's p.o.v. What would arouse your interest? What would you like to see? Should I not go down that route with a project that's not really my main baby? Cheers...

Patreon has two main models for payment, either it's a monthly support or support per produced unit. The latter might work just fine in case of your Arabic calligraphy as a payment model. (Patrons can set a cap for maximum support for a month. Say you charge 5$ per creation and make three a month it is possible that some patrons only pay 10$ in the end since it's their maximum.) But I guess even if you combine both and title it something like "artistic pursuits" and just have a general Patreon to support whatever you're working on at that moment is an option. For that I'd say a monthly support could smooth it for potential patrons.

As for rewards: many people just want to support the artist in their doing, others are certainly convinced by the perks. There are a few Patreons that do well without anything fancy. (Although I'd never count on that.) But extra information about processes, timelapse videos and early access are the common perks I've seen around. I'm not sure how they might work for you, especially with your Arabic calligraphy as I don't have much knowledge about the process. For the recipes you could put up votes on the possible next one or ask for suggestions for future recipes

People seem very into seeing process stuff on patreon, the more detailed and less familiar the better, so you might well find an audience for your calligraphy there!

Also, what Kyu says about patrons wanting to support the artist is definitely true. I've seen some patreons set up to support someone creating two different comics, or just fine art (basically all kinds of things besides ongoing sequential stories).

I dunno. I think that a lot of artists tell themselves "I make this comic about werewolves and I make this comic about vampires and they're completely different things" when they're actually all in the same sphere of interest. If you can find something in common, absolutely make an umbrella Patreon that says, "Christina is making absurd fantasy art and comics" or "Ally is making forest-inspired art and comics"

But I've got one person I'm supporting on Patreon who does voice acting, art, and writing phrases in Gallifreyan, and I don't care about 80% of their updates; I really only care about the art. And it is disengaging, because they have nothing in common and the creator isn't trying to tie them together in any way. I feel you would run into that with a combo Patreon of recipes, comics and Arabic calligraphy because they're so different.

I think if contemporary Arabic calligraphy is the big thing you're passionate about, make a Patreon around that, make it $X per thing, and see what happens. If it doesn't work, launch a second "comics/cartoons" monthly Patreon later where you can put all your other stuff.

I agree with Delph that tying the receipe stuff and calligraphy together may be a bit of a reach ... but perhaps you might ask your readers? It might be worth putting together a poll to see if you could get feedback?

varethane wrote:

People seem very into seeing process stuff on patreon, the more detailed and less familiar the better, so you might well find an audience for your calligraphy there!

I'm thinking of setting up a Patreon (finally ... after starting this thread ... two years ago ...) - what kind of things have you found work for you?

I'm thinking of doing two pages ahead on the feed, but other than that I'm not sure. I don't have a great deal of time to produce extra content, and am also pretty nervous of doing livestreaming or anything like that. I could maybe post some stages ... pencils / inks that sort of thing? Or design drawings for characters or settings? Trouble is, that stuff can be scrappy - there isn't a great deal of it, it usually doesn't look that pretty, and it may be drawn on post-its ...

Currently I just post wips of pages along the way... Originally the rewards were much different but since that started to get into the way of too many things I just reduced to my comic only, occasionally some nsfw/sfw side art and all that, and some written short stories or even personalized written short stories.

You could do your calligraphy, but if you ever feel like doing more maybe you could do some written/drawn short stories? Only of course if you find it fitting... It doesn't even have to be related your webcomic though, it could be a bunch of different short stories xD

I tackled my patreon with what I thought my kind of audience would like, and I think it turned out pretty well, I've had no complaints about the change in rewards or anything and a lot of them were there just for the webcomic itself.

I would suggest trying to get an audience for a certain type of thing if that's what you want to do for your patreon, and then actually creating it because your readers may not be into it, but there may be people who are into it but aren't into your webcomic.

Like on my patreon, there is specifically a side art section because I know there might be people who are into my art, but not my webcomic.

Patreon has two main models for payment, either it's a monthly support or support per produced unit. The latter might work just fine in case of your Arabic calligraphy as a payment model. (Patrons can set a cap for maximum support for a month. Say you charge 5$ per creation and make three a month it is possible that some patrons only pay 10$ in the end since it's their maximum.) But I guess even if you combine both and title it something like "artistic pursuits" and just have a general Patreon to support whatever you're working on at that moment is an option. For that I'd say a monthly support could smooth it for potential patrons.

That is useful. I could do quite a bit with that. I just have to find a way to make it simple – do you ever get folks saying "I'm interested but I find this Patreon thing too confusing"?

varethane wrote:

People seem very into seeing process stuff on patreon, the more detailed and less familiar the better, so you might well find an audience for your calligraphy there!Also, what Kyu says about patrons wanting to support the artist is definitely true. I've seen some patreons set up to support someone creating two different comics, or just fine art (basically all kinds of things besides ongoing sequential stories).

Well that's good to know! I hadn't realized this about fine art, I dug a bit and did find some artists on there, so I have some material to study in terms of what they offer and whether that's popular.

delphina wrote:

But I've got one person I'm supporting on Patreon who does voice acting, art, and writing phrases in Gallifreyan, and I don't care about 80% of their updates; I really only care about the art. And it is disengaging, because they have nothing in common and the creator isn't trying to tie them together in any way. I feel you would run into that with a combo Patreon of recipes, comics and Arabic calligraphy because they're so different.

I agree with you entirely, I may have a handful of fans who love ALL I do, but really they are otherwise distinct groups of people for each different thing. Also, it's just not professional. The comics and illustration and all sorts of personal work may mix happily precisely because they're personal, but the calligraphy is now my profession and as I'm pushing it to earnest buyers and galleries (moan), it needs its own space – I've had to split my website in two recently to reflect that. That said, I'm starting to get ideas

4LS wrote:

I agree with Delph that tying the receipe stuff and calligraphy together may be a bit of a reach ... but perhaps you might ask your readers? It might be worth putting together a poll to see if you could get feedback?

I'm going to do that

DameHelsing wrote:

I would suggest trying to get an audience for a certain type of thing if that's what you want to do for your patreon, and then actually creating it because your readers may not be into it, but there may be people who are into it but aren't into your webcomic.

Yes I see what you mean. I don't necessarily think I can import my real-life audience into Patreon, so might as well focus on a native (or at least web-based) audience.

I'm thinking of doing two pages ahead on the feed, but other than that I'm not sure. I don't have a great deal of time to produce extra content, and am also pretty nervous of doing livestreaming or anything like that. I could maybe post some stages ... pencils / inks that sort of thing? Or design drawings for characters or settings? Trouble is, that stuff can be scrappy - there isn't a great deal of it, it usually doesn't look that pretty, and it may be drawn on post-its ...

I don't think post-it sketches are a turnoff, in fact you could make them into a thing without too much effort. To give you an example, I usually do my sketching (for calligraphy) in coffeeshops (or random places), and I've gotten into a habit of instagramming the sketches with a glimpse of the context I'm sketching in. They add up to quite a nice series and I'm now thinking of using that idea somehow. Maybe that could turn your scrappy and post-it sketches into something rather cool your followers would want to "collect" somehow. Also, regarding inks, perhaps blowing up well-chosen panels for your readers to print and colour? People with kids enjoy that, but also adult colouring books are a thing now!Just a couple of odd ideas... I think as long as you're producing material, you can find ways to use it!

You need higher tiers! A comic as popular as yours, don't undersell it, I'm sure you can get patrons for higher pledges. I'd say take your time figuring out what to offer – what would your fans LOVE to have that wouldn't be too much extra work for you? You could make a poll and ask them?